WVU Football Coach Dana Holgorsen New Conference

Opening StatementI'm excited about game week. It seems like it's been forever since weplayed, but looking back on the last seven months we've come a long wayas a team. We added a lot of bodies and overcame a lot of injuries. Weovercame several academic situations and 25 days of practice and camp toget to the point where we can finally focus on game week. It's been funto try to get our guys focusing on somebody else other than themselves.We've worried ourselves so much over the past seven months that it'sexciting to worry about someone else. We're excited to play our firstgame, and we understand the challenges Marshall is going to bring to thetable. They're going to be a very motivated football team that is goingto want to come up here and play well. We're excited about them comingup and bringing their best and seeing if we can match their effort andenthusiasm to a point where we can win the game.

On what Marshall is carrying over from last year.They played a lot of young guys (last year), much like we?re playingthis year. They return eight guys on offense and five or six guys ondefense and a lot of freshmen sprinkled in to their two-deep, much likewe do this year. They should come back ready to go. They won some closegames last year like we did and they got themselves to a bowl game andwon their bowl game, which is always positive in the off season from amomentum standpoint.

We expect them to be a better football team than they were last year,not just when they played us, but also toward the end of the year whenyou watch the product they put out there. That (offense) should not onlybe improved, but also specific people. Everybody wants to talk about(Rakeem) Cato the quarterback and (Aaron) Dobson the receiver, addingsome speed with transfers in their secondary, but top to bottom goinginto (coach John Holliday) Doc?s year three, you should see a betterproduct out there.

On preparing for a possible changes in Marshall's offenseWho knows what we?re going to do offensively, right? Nobody knows forsure. We may throw something else out there that they haven?t seenbefore. Defensively, it?s widely known that we?re running the 3-4defense, but what does that mean? There may be some things we dodefensively that they haven?t prepared for. I?m sure that theirdefensive coaches have been studying football across the country for thelast six or seventh months and have come up with some different thingsthat they?re going to do against us.

Nobody knows going into the first game. You can assume all you want to,but the bigger thing for game one is in-game adjustments, which I?mconfident our coaches are going to be very aware of and alert to what isgoing on on the field, to the point where they can see what?s going onand then talk about how we need to attack it either offensively ordefensively and get it communicated to our players so they can adjustwhat they?re doing.

On the biggest surprise he has seen in a first gameYou can only put 11 guys out there, so there are only so many thingsyou can do. Five of them are going to be linemen, one of them is goingto be a quarterback, a couple of them are going to be receivers and acouple of them are going to be running backs. There are only so manydifferent things you can do. I don? think anybody is reinventing thegame. The biggest thing is in-game adjustments after finishing out whatthe plan is going to be and figuring out what they?re doing on all threesides of the ball.

On his anticipation of how Cato will playI don't watch them (Marshall) practice, so I couldn't tell you. He's akid that can move around and throw the ball pretty well. I watched himin high school, and he could do that in high school as well. It's allabout being comfortable with the system. I worry about more what ourquarterback does, as far as how he?s become comfortable in year two ofthis offense. He?s become a little bit more accurate and a little bitmore mobile. Those guys are coaching him the same way, but I don?t watchthem practice.

On matching enthusiasm and intensity and why it should be an issueRegardless of who we played (last year), whether it was Marshall or LSUwhen they were the No. 1 team in the country, it?s always like that.Highly motivated teams are dangerous, which we know Marshall is going tobe a highly motivated team. One of the three things we talk about a lotaround here is playing hard, which means giving great effort and being aphysical football team. That?s something regardless of whether we?replaying Marshall or the so-called No. 1 team in the country, we?realways going to talk about that. Having lack of effort is something thatis not going to be tolerated around here.

On whether Dustin Garrison will take snaps SaturdayIt depends on how he practices this week. We've settled on Shawne(Alston) being the starter for some time, so Shawne will start and RyanClarke will be the bigger back that we put in there. (Andrew) Buie'sbeen practicing really well.

Dustin hasn't had as many snaps over the last seven months, so we'llcontinue to practice him. It's a long season, and if he's not ready togo this week, then we?ll reevaluate it next week. That's just somethingthat we're continuously doing. I don't think Shawne Alston took a snapuntil week five last year. Thirteen games is a long season for runningbacks where you're asking them to run block, pass block, run with theball, catch the ball - there are a whole lot of things that positiondoes, meaning we need a lot of bodies to get in there and do it. We havefive or six there now, and we?re going to need all five of them, I canassure you.

On when redshirt decisions are madeWe're still evaluating. We'll do the travel squad and dress listWednesday night. We may make some decisions on guys that won?t dress,and if they don?t dress we are probably planning on redshirting them. Ifwe do dress them, they are the guys we just know that we?re going to putinto games. We might try to redshirt them, but based on availability, ifwe need them, we?ll play them. After the first couple of games, if guyshaven?t gotten in the game, then we?ll probably quit dressing themunless it?s an emergency situation.

On what Jordan Thompson did to become a starterHe adjusted to the speed of the game. That was the big thing. If youwould have had me rank Jordan with the rest of the receivers that camein and judge them 1-5 what I thought their speed was, I probably wouldhave been wrong. It?s how you adjust to the speed of the game, how fastyou play between the whistles and a lot of that has to deal with thecloudiness of the head. If they?re confused or uneasy, then their legstend to slow down. If they have a clear mind and understand what to doand have a good sense for the game, their legs tend to move a littlefaster. A lot of it had to do with being here in the spring, learningthings, understanding where to go and how to go there. He?s a definitestarter and Karl Joseph is a definite starter. He?s not confused, so hemoves faster and had a real good camp.

On if there is a concern about how young guys transition to playing ingameAny time you get in a game-type situation, there is always someconcern. Typically, how you practice is how you?re going to play. Youmay have wide eyes in the first game, you may not. Who knows what isgoing on through 18-year old kids? heads? You have to keep that in theback of your head. You need to be aware of how they are; you got to lookat their eyes on the sidelines if they come off. If they?re wide-eyedand looking up in the stands, you have to slap them around a little bit,get their attention and get them focused on what really counts.

Redshirt-freshmen are the same way. You talk about redshirt-freshmenguys who haven?t taken a snap; we need to monitor their progress aswell. Guys like Cody Clay and Kyle Rose come to mind. Isaiah Bruce isgoing to start at linebacker, and he has never taken a snap. I don?tthink there is a whole lot of difference from a redshirt-freshman and atrue freshman, maybe from a maturity standpoint.

On Donovan Miles? progressionHe?s played ball; he?s a fifth-year senior. He?s been in a bunch ofgames, whether it?s on defense or special teams - he?s taken snaps. Iwould put him in the category of whatever we see in practice is exactlywhat we?re going to get in the game.

On how Terence Garvin and Darwin Cook got ready for the first gameWe handled that a long time ago. We?ve had lots of talks with them andlots of early morning workouts with them to see if they wanted to behere, and they?ve done everything that they?ve been asked to do. They?reguys with a lot of experience that have been stepping up in the frontlines and two of the guys that we?re counting on to be leaders of thisdefense, let alone the football team. I?m proud of how those guysresponded, and they?ve done everything we?ve asked them to do.

On how much he watches the guys in the first gameI can?t watch all 70 of them, but that?s why we have 15 other coachesout there, whether it is in the box or on the field. The importance ofbeing on the sideline is so when guys come off the field, you look atthem to see how they are acting and you communicate with them. That?spart of in-game coaching.

On how to get coaches to coach your styleIt?s all part of the hiring process. I?ve hired guys that I?ve eithercoached with, or we have coaches on the staff that have coached withthem. These guys are fitting in well. We coached with them for about 40practices now, so we have a pretty good idea of what their coachingphilosophies are and what their schemes are and how they interact withguys.

On whether he would rather not have a second-week byeYes. That?s just part of switching conferences. It?s not ideal, but weknow how to handle an off week - everybody has off weeks. However thegame goes, good or bad, we?ll come in Sunday, watch it and get it overwith. We?ll practice Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and we?ll go outrecruiting on Friday and Saturday. That?s how pretty much how alloff-weeks are, so we?ll be able to get out next week and watch highschool football games.

On whether he is ready for game weekI would have been ready a week ago. We?ve been focusing on this team,which is our team, for a long time. We have gotten to the point where weknow how to line up and what we?re going to do. We could?ve probablydone it last week and been just fine. I feel good about where we?re atas a team and who we have plugged in there in the schemes that we have.It?s Tuesday, so we have three ?four practices between now and the gameto get our kids as familiar with Marshall as we think we need to getthem. From a coaching standpoint, we feel like we know enough aboutthem, as much as we?re going to know about them prior to the first game,so it is our job to get the players as prepared as they possibly can.They?re going to be prepared from a knowledge standpoint, and they?regoing to be prepared from a ready-to-go standpoint.

On hitting in camps and hitting in gamesI think we?re fully prepared. We?ve played a lot of football againsteach other over the last four weeks. We?ve probably played more livesituations over the last four weeks than I?ve ever been a part of. We?reas fully prepared as we possibly can be.

On how the defense helps the offense prepareThey?re stopping us a good bit. Nobody knows more about our offensethan three of our defensive coaches, maybe four of them. Joe (DeForest)has been defending us and wide open offenses for 12 years, so has Keith(Patterson) and Erik Slaughter. Daron Roberts sat in our meetings for awhole year offensively. We?re not going to go against anybody that knowsmore about our offense than our defensive coaches do. They?ve done agood job of defending us and pointing out things that have made usbetter.

On having players focus on the team instead of themselves at the NFLdraftI can assure you that is not something they're thinking of. I don?tknow how it?s been in the past, but we?re worried about beatingMarshall, we?re worried about what our game plans are offensively anddefensively and we're worried about playing well. That's the only thingwe're worried about right now. We?re not worried about JMU, not the Big12. We?re sure not worried about the NFL. We?re going to go out thereand do what we have to do to win this first one.

On whether it can sometimes be bad that everybody is so readyI think that?s always an issue. Offensively, we have a lot of guys thathave been in (tough situations) and are strong leaders, to the pointthat they can overcome adversity. Nobody overcame more adversity than wedid last year. There was a whole bunch of stuff for a 12-month periodthat we overcame, and I was proud of how well we overcame it.

A lot of those components are still here. We overcame a lot ofadversity in that Orange Bowl, and we won by a considerable amount. Wewere down for a quarter and a half. Adversity hits all of the time, andyou need guys to step up.

Defensively, we have seven or eight starters coming back that have allbeen in pretty big battles and have overcame a lot of adversity. I wantto know which one of those guys is going to stand up and get in front of22 of his peers and say enough is enough, much like Keith Tandy andNajee Goode did. That?s probably the biggest thing I worry aboutdefensively - not having guys that have played or guys that have made abunch of plays, but having guys who will stand up in the locker room andget in front of somebody and say this isn?t acceptable. Keith and Najeedid a tremendous job. We're still looking for those guys; they're outthere, I just don't know which ones they are.

On whether guys like Jeff Braun and Joe Madsen and the offensive lineact like leadersThose are fun guys. Those guys are two guys that will stand up and saysomething. Josh Jenkins has had a great camp, and (Quinton) Spain andPat (Eger) have as well. Those guys, from an experience standpoint, haveplayed a lot of football. They?re having a good time, they're betterthan they were a year ago, they understand what we?re doing a lot moreand they take pride in making sure No. 12 is doing OK behind them. Theytake pride in knowing that if it is third and short, we?re going to giveit to Shawne and get the first down. That's part of where we're atoffensively.

On the depth of the offensive lineWe have about eight bodies, and I think at this point last year we hadabout five-and-a-half. We have better depth. We?re practicing better andpracticing smarter. The first 10 weeks of the season we practiced sixguys, so that has been a huge focal point. Obviously, everyone needs tostay healthy to have a good year. The continuity that exists up frontwill remain intact as long as they are healthy and fresh.

On whether any wide receivers have stepped up.Not really. We have four starters, and we?ll roll people in. Ivan(McCartney) has done better, K.J. Myers has done better and DanteCampbell has done better. We still have four or five freshmen that we're evaluating.

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